NUDITY

Shiori Akiba is a photographer who grew up in Hokkaido and is currently based in Tokyo. The theme of her photography is “nudity”.

“I used to study psychology in university. During studying there I learned photography on my own and won the prize in a photography contest. After the graduation, I stopped taking photographs for some time and went to Montreal and worked with a fashion designer as a fashion stylist. Then moved to Tokyo and I worked as an assistant of a fashion stylist.

I currently started photography again with a deep interest in nudity. I’m still seeking the reason why I have a strong interest in the nude human body.”

How did you decide to become a photographer?

My interest in photography began when I was in university, because my sister was learning photography and I was influenced a lot by her. I started taking photographs with small SLR camera. I was just having fun with photography as a hobby. After graduating from university, However, I had doubts about photography because I was merely taking pictures of what I wanted to. As my interest in photography grew, I began caring about aspects such as skills, camera quality, and others’ opinions instead of what I truly wanted to do. I could not find what was the most important for me to take photographs at that time. So I stopped taking photographs for several years. But recently I started photography again with a 35 mm film camera. That changed my feeling a lot, and then I started to seriously think that I wanted to express my feelings through my photography in the future.

You often photograph nudity in various places, what does nudity mean to you?

Nudity is a really important subject for me and it is an imperative theme in how I express myself. But I don’t know yet what “nudity” means. I’m still considering about it. That’s why I photograph nudity.

Do you usually photograph friends or strangers?

I usually photograph my friends.

What are your favourite cameras?

I always work with Olympus mju2. It is my favorite camera. And I also like ContaxT2.

Where does your inspiration come from?

I get a lot of inspiration from my favorite photographer Sandy kim and Yoshinobu Araki. These two have undoubtedly influenced me and taught me important lessons. Also I get ideas from daily life, books, music, family, boyfriend and friends, and all of things around me. I often have strange dream, sometimes I get ideas from my wired imagination.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a new project with my friends, and I also will move to Paris in this summer. I’m so excited.